Fish oil may also lower incidence of gum disease

Published: Tuesday, October 26, 2010, 17:00 [IST]

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Washington, Oct 26 (ANI): A new study has found that dietary intake of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) like fish oil, known to have anti-inflammatory properties, shows promise for the effective treatment and prevention of periodontitis, a common inflammatory disease in which gum tissue separates from teeth.

Although traditional treatments concentrate on the bacterial infection, more recent strategies target the inflammatory response.

"To date, the treatment of periodontitis has primarily involved mechanical cleaning and local antibiotic application. Thus, a dietary therapy, if effective, might be a less expensive and safer method for the prevention and treatment of periodontitis," he added.

The study involved over 9,000 adults who received dental examinations and also collected extensive demographic, ethnic, educational and socioeconomic data, allowing the researchers to take other factors into consideration that might obscure the results.

The prevalence of periodontitis in the study sample was 8.2% and there was an approximately 20% reduction in periodontitis prevalence in those subjects who consumed the highest amount of dietary DHA.